


Justice in a blaster bolt

by FiKate



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Backstory, Canon Compliant, Cassian Andor-centric, Child Soldiers, Clone Wars, Death, F/M, POV Cassian Andor, Snipers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 16:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19299373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiKate/pseuds/FiKate
Summary: Cassian's history with blasters from talking to his parents about the clone troopers on Fest to the shots fired on Scarif. My take on why being a sniper is so difficult for Cassian. Not rebelcaptain centric but clear signs in the end.Belated entry toCassian Andorweek for Celebrate Rogue One and the prompt: training.





	Justice in a blaster bolt

“Papa, what’s making the snow melt?” Cassian could see holes where the soldiers in white were firing. It wouldn’t be good for the snow, it wasn’t time for the thaw yet. Then he saw other colors outside, the blues of work parkas and pressed his nose harder to the window.

“Mijo, come away from there,” Both his parents voice came together at once as his Papa lifted him away from the window and sat him at the table where his Mama was fixing his snow pants.

“But what are they doing?” He’d seen the ships and the tanks but he hadn’t been allowed outside since they arrived. And he wanted to explore, he’d never seen ships this big before, their whole town with all the buildings could fit inside one of them.

His mother pricked herself with the needle, she never did that and said, “They’re fighting, Cassian.”

“Why?” He got into fights sometimes, he didn’t mean to but he got angry.

“Because the soldiers think they should be in charge.” His father said, his mother sighed.

“They want what all the miners work for but don’t want to get it themselves,” Cassian leaned against his father, he loved when his mother taught him about anything. She knew so much.

“Then they have to help. They can’t be pirates.” Pirates were always the enemy in the holos he watched, taking what wasn’t theirs.

“No, they’re not pirates. They think they’re allowed to be here. Not everyone agrees with them, but blasters aren’t the way to solve anything. Remember that, Cassian, blasters make people think they’re right.” His father was being serious and Cassian nodded. No one knew more about right and wrong than his parents.

* * *

The arm of a parka was barely visible in the snow when Cassian was walking home from school. His parents, all the parents finally let them go out again and he crouched down to try and help the person in the snow. It wasn’t safe to be so deep even though they were close to the square. He started to clean off where their face should be, he hoped they weren’t dead. Fast as he could, he used his mittens to get the snow off of them, pounding on the ice on top. 

One big chunk of snow and ice moved and Cassian slipped back as he saw the holes in the body with black like smoke around them. Blasters did that, that’s what they looked like in the holos. This was what the soldiers had been doing, shooting Festians. He hiccuped and swallowed, he needed to tell someone. No one’s body should be left out in the snow, everyone knew that, but the soldiers might have their own ideas. Cassian stood up, careful not to touch the dead person, he would tell his parents.

* * *

The target looked very far away as Cassian stood like Paolo had shown him and aimed the blaster. He could do this, squeeze the trigger and he watched a hole, a blaster hole appeared. “I did it.” 

“You did. Now you have to keep practicing until all your shots are where you want them to be.” Paolo spoke slowly and gravely, Cassian closed his eyes because Paolo sounded almost like his Papa. His father would have wanted him to find another way to defend Fest but there wasn’t another. Papa’s way was why he was dead and now Cassian was going to fight with Paolo for Fest. Using blasters didn’t make them right, the soldiers of the Republic were wrong and to make the fight fair, they had to use blasters.

* * *

Cassian aimed the blaster rifle, putting all of his focus into the target and breathed before seeing the hole where it should be. Behind him Draven made a small sound of approval, “Good, Andor. You’ll be ready for some new missions soon.” 

The weight of the rifle seemed to change as Cassian lowered it to face Draven, he knew what that meant, to be a sniper. He would never shirk his duty to the Rebellion, even though he’d never killed someone when they weren’t firing at him, “I’ll be ready, sir.” 

“I know you will. I have a briefing, send me your final tally for the day,” Then Draven left, leaving Cassian thinking of all the dead faces he’d seen. Now he’d be looking at some of them through a scope. This wasn’t the time to think on that, he would do a few more rounds and see if he was needed in the kitchen. 

While he aimed, he thought of what his father would ask him, “Will you be an executioner? What kind of soldier are you?”

He closed his eyes for a moment as he thought of what he would tell his father if he was here. This was how he could best fight the Empire and be useful to the Rebellion. Then he opened them again and carefully finished his practice with an almost perfect score.

While he disassembled and cleaned his blaster, taking it from rifle to blaster, he knew he had to become like it, able to adapt for every kind of combat.

* * *

Cassian adjusted his position, a shadow had moved, not enough to make him need to find a new spot but he knew he had to do this in one shot. Every part of the mission had gone according to what Draven had briefed him. All that was left was for his target to walk out of the door that they did every day. 

In front of his scope, there was a glint of light as the street light hit the shiny lapel of the slaver’s suit. Cassian aimed, finding the perfect spot just below a suit button and squeezing the trigger with a slow breath. The target fell as Cassian disassembled his rifle, securing it in his bag and slipping down the service stairs and thrusting his hands into his jacket pockets as he joined the evening crowd. 

On the first of three shuttles he was taking to get back to base, he allowed himself a brief moment of closing his eyes and the silver eyes of his target met him. The killing was just, and would save the lives of slaves who had passed through ports with the protection of his credits. He was making the galaxy safer and he shook the thought of those eyes away.

* * *

The rain dripped down his neck and into his eyes as he found Galen Erso and Krennic. He could make the shot, he’d made harder ones, but this time the shot wasn’t the answer. Without the message, Erso was their way to the flaw but Krennic was there and there wasn’t a possible extraction. Not with the U-wing and the comms down, there wasn’t even a good holding action. If he took the shot, then he’d probably die here on Eadu, Jyn would kill him or one of the Guardians and that would be right, but wouldn’t help in the fight.

Cassian rubbed his face which only added another layer of wetness and he set the rifle down. Somewhere there was an angle he was missing, a way to find out what Erso knew, save him and convince the Rebellion to act.

Erso was a collaborator who had built a flaw into his weapon and reached out to his daughter. Once more he looked down his scope, going over the platform when the X-wings burst from the clouds. He searched the platform for anything that might change a plan that was now useless and saw Jyn. She couldn’t die down there.

* * *

Cassian anchored himself on the tower as he fired at Krennic, there were too many odd angles to get off the shot he wanted. Jyn needed to move, she had the plans and they would get them to the fleet. Krennic flinched as one of Cassian’s shots almost got him. Then he felt heat on his shoulder and lost his grip, he hoped Jyn was safe.

He used the column to hold his stance, pushing away the pain as Krennic bragged, waiting for the perfect shot. It had to be clean, he couldn’t risk hitting Jyn. Then as he saw Krennic shift, he had his opening and fired. It was the right shot at the right time. When he looked up, he met Jyn’s eyes and she smiled, he’d never seen her smile like that. He’d helped do that, she was alive.


End file.
